Making a door:
For my small brick series I will make a door. I tried to photograph all essential steps in doing so. I hope it will make sense and maybe you will pick
up some sculpting tool also after seeing how simple this actually is.
Preperation:
All I need is a plaster wall segment and one sculpting tool. I did use a fine saw but this has nothing to do with the sculpting bit.
I make this door for my small brick series.
Now you can apply this technique on any size of bricks so if you are not into small bricks you might
want to try this on larger bricks.
I made a wall builder mold out of small bricks. (do not mind the custom texture of the wall builder though)
It is important that you can work on a piece that is cast in one piece. Cutting into a wall that is glued will not work so that is why you need to work
with something like a larger wall, cast in one piece.
Beware!
Work with a fresh cast in way that the cast part is still moist. If the work takes longer than and you must put it aside then put it in a bag that
is moist so the block will not fully dry.
I cut off a wall part that is 2” high. (8 rows of small bricks) The door will be about 1.5” high and a 2” wall for a house is quite standard.
The wall piece is 2” wide and so I decide to make the door 1” wide leaving enough wall on either side in order to keep it solid enough.
The tool I use is a dental tool. It is an iron hook that is triangle shaped and is sharp as well on the outside as on the inside so I can use it
by pushing and pulling.
I simply draw the desired form on the wall piece with a pencil. This is the outside line of the door. The first thing I do is to flatten the lowest 2
bricks, making them smooth. This will be the threshold.
Beware!
Before carving at all be sure you are working on a flat surface. I work on a tile. This surface is perfectly flat so the plaster blocks will
withstand pressure from my hands and tools without breaking because of unlevelled surface.
Next I will carve the line of the door in by pulling the tool going eventually 1/8” deep.
The entire outline of the door opening is carved in. The threshold in this stage is about 1/8” high.
I now will deep scrape the door form out. I first start with pushing the tool from about ¼” from the carved line towards it in order to get the plaster
out the door area. Once that is done I start scraping the entire door surface and make it as level as possible. (all to the eye)
Within the door opening will be a stone edge that goes along the sides of the wall. I start carving the line of this edge slowly and not to deep at first.
When I like the line I can start making the carving a bit deeper.
Now the carving off the inner stone edge is done I can repeat the scraping of the area. Work slowly and beware that the layer of plaster will be thinner
at every scrape. If all goes well you now have a door with a nice edge around it which gives the piece more depth.
It is time to work on some details. I adjusted the stone structure of the wall and also carved the lines in between bricks around the corner inward
toward the door. The stone edge inside is build also out of loose stones so I carve some lines in it as well to represent this.
Apart from the smooth surface of the door itself, the surroundings are finished.
The texture of the door itself is wood. So now I must divide the door up into wooden planks.
I use the back of my hobby saw to carve the lines of the individual planks again carving very lightly in the beginning.
When the lines are carved in I also widen the carves by carving at an angle making the carve not much deeper but wider, more like a V shape.
Beware the door is this so keep a good eye on how deep you can go. If however you go to deep you can always repair the hole.
(If you happen to go through the door because it is too thin) Simply wetting the door part and add wet plaster using a tiny brush.
Carve the grain of the wood at free will and less deep then the V shaped lines of the individual planks.
Making hinges and a door ring is done by using tiny strips of thin metal. I bend the last part of the metal strip over so it is thicker at the very end,
there where the hinge will touch the wall.
I cut the other end in a more decorative way and use wood glue to stick it on the door.
An even thinner piece of metal I curve around a thick metal tool. This will be the door handle. This little round piece of metal will me squashed under
a hammer or so this will be nicely flat. Gluing it on also and adding a little metal strip over the top part as it represents the metal part on which
the ring is attached.
Finally I use drops of wood glue to represent big bolts that locks the hinges to the door.
Now that the door is done I can make a mold out of it and use it to my liking.
Since the door is so thin, the chance of breaking it while cast in plaster is huge. Or you cast it in plaster where you cut out the wooden part or you
use resin in stead. With resin you can cut out the door and use it as a real door like open it a bit.
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